Race: 50 miles on rolling course of a 11.5 mile circuit with some rough pave' with climb to finish., Some very sharp corners

Weather: Heavy down pours and constant rain

Goal: Ride smart and finish well

The race-

I got to the race and had 2 minutes to warm up. It was raining from the start and all morning. I love racing in the rain. Essentially I just rode to the start area.

I stayed at the front the entire race. The field was responsive and communication was fair but not great. Of course a few guys jumped the attacks with 5 miles into the race. Several breaks went off all day but all of us at the front kept a strict policy of no LT (kept yelling that =) and pulling back the breaks gradually. In fact quite a few teams came to the fron to block etc. but the field managed well. On the 3rd lap I lost my chain and went from 2nd place to last. I jumped off my bike cussing up a storm. The field passed me by and I knew my chance was up.

I jumped back on my bike ( I am very anal about changing gears as to avoid this mishap but the rain had washed most of lub away and I could feel it through the pedals ) I TTed hard. Not pacing myself but just trying to find the field in my vision. Soon they were and sooner I was struggling at the back as the last man. I became overwhelmed with excitment and went from last place to first in seconds. It must have been some kind of record. I just screamed in and out of the field. But this whole effort had cost alot of power and energy. I kept my rpms light and attempted with futility to avoid as much water on the road as possible but the rain never stopped until the race was over.

I stayed in front until the final climb when a guy on a red Trek rammed into me 3 times hard. At first I thought he was doing it on purpose since we were just staring at eachother until I said "what are you doing?" but he was out of breathe and eventually managed " I'm sorry" This lost me some places but due to the fact I didn't drop the hammer at the bottom of the climb I continued to pass people straight to the finish. Since the finish was 7 miles from the start we had to ride back together and ther ewas a good mood in the air and we all agreed it was a great race course and eventful attentive race

This was the first year for the race and I HIGHLY recommend it for you New Englanders. I am thinking of even coming up next year from NC to race it I enjoyed it so much. Especially since Monson is gone. By the way the riders were VERY considerate and the officials were emphatic about warming up,trash,yellow line and anything else they could think of. Which is a good thing

At least you were able to finish your race. the 45+ was pulled over because some slob threw his water bottle away. his defense was that he saw someone else do it. The official who had plenty of time to pass us, could have said something and I'm sure the culprit would have fessed up. But no! he has to pull over the entire field except for the two guys who were fifty yards up. they must have thought they were supermen when they looked back and couldn't see any one.
the course was all right. It was a miracle no one got taken out on the turns. We got to race 3 laps before the USCF Gestapo sprang into action, and the racing was good. The boys let me hang off the front for the whole first lap, I kept getting slower and slower, pleading for them to come and get me, but they just left me danging there, knowing I wasn't going to do a 40 mile solo. A good warmup for Sunnapee.

Bob